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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25748779">That's not my Spider.</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Titanbreaker/pseuds/Titanbreaker'>Titanbreaker</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Spider-Man (Comicverse), Spider-Man - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Crime, Emotional Manipulation, F/M, Felicia kicks ass, First Kiss, First time writing a kiss so feedback would be appriciated, Fist Fights, Happy Ending, Kissing, Mistaken Identity, Peter is canonically a good kisser, PeterFelicia 2020, Theft, Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 03:35:23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,850</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25748779</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Titanbreaker/pseuds/Titanbreaker</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Felicia Hardy witnesses Spider-Man commiting a robbery and she wants some answers.<br/>Day 4 of the PeterFelicia 2020 week prompt Heists.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Felicia Hardy/Peter Parker</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>61</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>PeterFelicia Week 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>That's not my Spider.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>AN: This fic is part of the PeterFelicia week 2020. Day 4 Heists.</p>
<p>This is set during Peter and Felicia's early days with neither knowing the other's true identity.</p>
<p>I do not own Spider-Man or any releated media.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Bathed in the moon’s pale light, Felicia Hardy aka the Black Cat stood on the edge of a building unable to believe her eyes.</p>
<p>Directly in front of her, separated only by a dozen meters of open air, was the luxury apartment that belonged to one Luther and Karen White. The Whites where a wealthy couple who enjoyed the opera, traveling, and to collect various valuable things and use them to dress up their many homes around the country.</p>
<p>Their apartment in New York had many nice pieces within it, including, but not limited to, a man sized marble statue of the Greek God Poseidon, a Fabergé egg, a genuine Persian rug, a collection of jade idols, and a little French painting called the Cat’s eye that Felicia’s father, Walter Hardy, had once stolen back in the eighties.</p>
<p>It was this last item that was had brought her here and Felicia couldn’t wait to see her father’s face when she presented the painting to him next Sunday for his Birthday.</p>
<p>No matter how hardened a criminal she claimed to be she was still a daddy’s girl at heart.</p>
<p>Just as she had been taught, the Black Cat had done her homework in full. For the past three weeks she had been scoping out the apartment, checking and then rechecking every detail to ensure that nothing could go wrong. If Felicia had wanted to she could have drawn up a near perfect blueprint of the apartment, revealing every wall socket, treasure trove, and hidden security device.</p>
<p>Having also carefully followed the White’s movements and schedules, the Black Cat had discovered the perfect window of opportunity in which to pull off her heist. For most of this evening the happy couple would not be home, first they had tickets to the opera, a four and a half hour show no less, following that they then had dinner reservations at the Crimson swan. After such a night of loud music and fine dining it would be early the next morning before they returned home and by then neither White would be in any condition to notice the absence of their prized painting.</p>
<p>But now all those weeks of hard work and preparation had been rendered pointless, as the Black Cat had discovered that she had been beaten to the punch by none other than New York’s brightly costumed hero, Spider-Man.</p>
<p>Sinking into a crouch, Felicia Hardy watched as Spider-Man stood in the middle of the White’s brightly lit living room, slowly taking in all the wonders surrounding him.</p>
<p>“What are you doing here Spider?” She whispered to herself. If he was here to start some sleuthing, then he had picked a real bad time to do it. Yes, the Black Cat still had several hours left before the Whites even thought about returning home, but the wall crawler’s mere presence was putting everything at risk.</p>
<p>The lights where on and the curtains were not drawn, meaning that anyone in the several surrounding buildings who happened to glance out a window in the right direction could clearly see Spider-Man standing in the middle of an apartment that was so obviously not his own. The police would be called and that would be the end of that.</p>
<p>Tapping her titanium tipped claws against the concrete block beneath her; the Black Cat tried to be patient. What could the Whites have been mixed up in that required a house call from Spider-Man? During the time she had been observing them; neither had seemed dirty or involved in anything suspicious. Perhaps she had missed something. Adjusting her crouch Felicia decided she might have to ask the masked hero about it later. Presuming he didn’t interfere with tonight’s plans.</p>
<p>After what seemed like an age, Spider-Man finally broke free of his spellbound state and began to move. Turning his back to her and the window, he left the White’s living room and vanished out of sight down the main corridor of the apartment.</p>
<p>The Black Cat weighed her options. If Spider-Man was digging for dirt then he had probably gone to either Karen’s office or the White’s bedroom. Both of which were only a few short meters from the living room, where the Cat’s eye hung over the electric fireplace.</p>
<p>Standing up, Felicia smiled at the challenge.</p>
<p>Swiping a two point eight million dollar painting from under Spider-Man’s very nose? How could she resist?</p>
<p>Taking a couple of steps back to give herself the necessary run up, the Black Cat flexed her gloved hand which readied her three clawed grappling hook. Then bouncing up and down in place for a few seconds, she started running towards the edge of the building.</p>
<p>Only to then freeze mid-step as Spider-Man re-entered the living room carrying a large duffle bag. Ducking down, the Black Cat silently cursed the wall crawler.</p>
<p>What was he doing? Had he already found what he was looking for? Was he going to leave now?</p>
<p>She hoped it was the latter. Instead, Spider-Man dropped the bag in the middle of the living room floor. He then marched over to a display case housing several expensive trinkets, raised his fist, and smashed the glass.</p>
<p>The Black Cat’s eyes widened in surprise.</p>
<p>Brushing stray pieces of glass onto the floor with a gloved hand, Spider-Man snatched up one of the jade idols from the now ruined display case. Holding the prize up to the light, he examined it, slowly turning it in his hands. Then, satisfied, he carried the idol over to the bag and carefully began wrapping it up in brown tissue paper.</p>
<p>Straightening herself up, the Black Cat watched as Spider-Man went back to the cabinet and began picking out the other treasures one by one. Her mind whirled in confusion, this wasn’t right.</p>
<p>Spider-Man and the Black Cat’s paths had crossed several times now and each encounter had evolved into its own heart pounding adventure. They had chased each other over the rooftops of New York, accidently stumbled across a Maggia arms deal, and had teamed up against the supervillain Electro and throughout all of it, amidst all the flirting, back and forth banter, and pleas from him for her to change her wicked ways, Felicia had discovered that he was the rare kind of man who didn’t turn out to be a huge hypocrite.</p>
<p>There had been plenty of opportunities for the wall crawler to line his pockets while still playing the hero, but he hadn’t taken any of them. Worse, he had stopped Felicia from doing so.</p>
<p>She should have hated him for it. But instead Felicia found herself actually admiring Spider-Man.</p>
<p>He was, as ridiculous as it sounded, a good guy.</p>
<p>Which is what made the scene before her so difficult to swallow.</p>
<p>One by one Spider-Man wrapped up the White’s treasures and bagged them. There was no denying it; this was theft, plain and simple. But why?</p>
<p>He wasn’t like this, Spider-Man was different. It momentarily surprised Black Cat on how fiercely she believed in a man whose real name she didn’t know.</p>
<p>After the last of the display case’s treasures had found their way into the wall crawler’s bag, Felicia decided that she had sat on the side-lines lone enough and was going to have a little chat.</p>
<p>And heaven help Spider-Man if he didn’t have an explanation for all of this.</p>
<p>Jumping off the rooftop, the Black Cat fired her grappling hook and swung onto the White’s balcony. Landing softly, Felicia moved towards the door, watching as Spider-Man sought out his next prize from the assorted collection. Grasping the balcony door’s handle she gave it an experimental turn and discovered that it had been left unlocked, as it was most days. Opening it slowly, the Black Cat slipped inside the White’s apartment, shut the door behind her, and then leaned against the doorframe and crossed her arms.</p>
<p>The wall crawler hadn’t heard a thing.</p>
<p>“So,” The Black Cat said causing Spider-Man to jump. Twisting his body to face her, Felicia took satisfaction in the wide eyed look of surprise his mask conveyed as he slipped into a familiar low crouch stance, raised his hands, and pointed both of his web shooters at her. “Are we changing things up, do I get to chase you now?”</p>
<p>For a second he stood there, silently appraising her. Meeting his white eyed stare, the Black Cat waited for an answer. After a moment or two of this, Spider-Man lowered his hands and straightened himself out of his stance. “The Black Cat.”</p>
<p>“Spider-Crook.” Felicia replied with a forced smile.</p>
<p>She waited a second, expecting him to deny it, wanting him to. There had to be another explanation for this.</p>
<p>Except Felicia knew too much about stealing to be blind to what was really happening. But still she found herself hoping for an alternative.</p>
<p>Spider-Man slowly brought his hands together and began clapping.</p>
<p>“Well this is a first.” He said, his tone that same jovial one he had used only a few days earlier when he had tried to once again talk her out of her life of crime. “You know, no one has ever caught me doing this before so, wow. Totally brand new life experience.” He ceased clapping. “Good for you Kitty Cat.”</p>
<p>Felicia bristled at the nickname. She had chosen her moniker to both honour her father’s legacy while creating one of her own. And no one in red and blue tights was going to mock her for it.</p>
<p>“I’m still waiting on an explanation.” Black Cat said, pushing herself off the balcony doorway and walked deeper into the apartment. “Why are you doing this?”</p>
<p>“Why?” Spider-Man chuckled, “She asks why? Oh dear me, I do this because I can, because I am the best, and because I love it.”</p>
<p>“Answer my question.” Felicia snapped, coming to a stop between Spider-Man and the Cat’s eye. “You don’t steal; you’re not like this, so cut the act and tell me what’s going on.”</p>
<p>For a second he was silent, but then the white eyes of Spider-Man’s mask widened and his tone became mocking and cruel. “Oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear. Did you actually buy into all that hero nonsense? Poor Kitty, no, no I’m not a hero, I am the greatest criminal mastermind within this city.” He threw his arms out wide and laughed.</p>
<p>“Stop it.” Black Cat snarled but Spider-Man continued on, his voice becoming more and more passionate.</p>
<p>“It’s all a big con, don’t you see? I swing in, play the hero, and the people love me for it. Well most of them do anyway, and then when I’m feeling strapped for cash I do a little window shopping, find someone rich and fat and help myself to their things.” He slowly shook his head. “No one ever suspects me, after all I save the day and go home without a penny. How could anyone so selfless be a common crook?”</p>
<p>“You’re lying. You help people; you help people even when they don’t want it, because you’re a naïve idiot who believes in all that junk about being good for the sake of-”</p>
<p>“All part of the act my dear.” Spider-Man interrupted. But then he let out a dramatic sigh. “But recently it’s become all too easy, no challenge, no sport in it for this little spider. So I’m upping my game and taking a little more.” He nodded towards his bag of loot. “After all, this city owes me. I mean who else is going to stop Doctor Octopus the next time he threatens to blow up New York? You?” He pointed at the Black Cat and began to stifle a laugh.</p>
<p>“Sorry, I guess I shouldn’t throw stones and all that, after all without scum like you prowling around, people might have started to guess as to what I’m up too. So I thank you.” Spider-Man offered her a mocking bow.</p>
<p>“You’re full of it.” Felicia muttered, as she fought to keep herself under control.</p>
<p>He was lying, there had to be something that she was missing, something that could explain all this away. Felicia wanted to say it wasn’t really him at all, but the voice, the posture, the way he moved, every detail of his costume, they were all perfect. This was Spider-Man. But it wasn’t. Not the one that she had come to know.</p>
<p>Had it all really been an elaborate act?</p>
<p>“There, there Kitty Cat, I know you’re feeling betrayed, but let’s not pretend like you’re an innocent. I mean, how many times have I stopped you from stealing something?”</p>
<p>Black Cat couldn’t hold back the tremble of fury that shook her body. She felt used and stupid. Of course it was all a con, Spider-Man wasn’t some great hero, he was just like everyone else trying to get ahead by any means necessary. She should have seen it.</p>
<p>The memories of his selfless acts and heroic deeds faded from her mind. All she could remember in that moment was the times where he had gotten in her way, how he had lectured her, talked down to her as if she was a misguided child. He hadn’t really been trying to help her; he’d just been trying to get rid of the competition.</p>
<p>Felicia’s hands formed into tight fists. She wanted to hurt him, she wanted to pull that stupid mask off his face and beat that smug smile that he was probably wearing right off him. He had lied to her, toyed with her feelings, and no one, not even Spider-Man was allowed to get away with that.</p>
<p>Spider-Man looked up sharply towards the small ticking wall clock, whose delicate hands were made of real silver. “Sorry to interrupt this life changing revelation you’re having there Kitty but time is getting on and as thrilling as this little chat has been for me, I’ve got tons more to do before the owners of all this stuff gets back. But since I’m in a good mood I’m going to give you a free pass…” He waved his hand at her dismissively. “So long.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, sure.” Felicia said, hating the way she still trembled in anger with every word. “We’ve all got stuff to be getting on with right?”</p>
<p>“That’s right.” Spider-Man said, he then turned his back on her and walked over to a large cabinet which housed the White’s Fabergé egg. Pressing his hand against the glass, he admired it for a few seconds, only to then realise that the Black Cat hadn’t yet left.</p>
<p>Glancing over his shoulder, his masked eyes once again widened in surprise and then narrowed in anger. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” He yelled.</p>
<p>Standing on her tiptoes, the Black Cat had taken the Cat’s eye painting down off the wall and was now holding it possessively. “Nothing, just doing what us common crooks usually do.” She locked eyes with him. “Help keep you in business.”</p>
<p>“Put it down now.” Spider-Man ordered, marching across the room towards her. Standing her ground, Felicia Hardy transferred the painting and its heavy bronze frame into her right hand, freeing up one arm. As he got closer, the wall crawler realised that the Black Cat wasn’t intimidated by his approach and so he slowly came to a stop a few feet from her. “Give me the painting,” He reached out for it. “and you can still walk away.”</p>
<p>“Come get it.” She challenged, flexing her clawed fingers.</p>
<p>Spider-Man took a small step forward. “You know I’ve taken down a lot of the big dogs don’t you? Scorpion, Tombstone, the Rhino.” He paused, giving his words time to sink in. “Come on Kitty Cat, you’re smart enough to know that you can’t win this. So be a good girl and hand it over.” He reached out for the painting once again. “And maybe I won’t have to bruise up that pretty face of yours.”</p>
<p>Felicia waited a few seconds, calculating her move. And then with a forced tremble which she hoped she didn’t oversell, she slowly raised her right arm, and presented the painting to Spider-Man.</p>
<p>“Good Kitten.” Spider-Man said. He took a hold of the bronze frame and then pulled it from her grasp. Dropping the painting on the White’s twenty thousand dollar couch he then moved towards Black Cat, grabbed her upper left arm, and began to pull her towards the balcony door. “Time for you to get los-”</p>
<p>Titanium tipped claws sliced through the fabric of his suit and drew blood from his chest causing Spider-Man to let out a horrified gasp. Pulling her arm free from his grasp, Felicia followed up with a hard left to the wall crawler’s face.</p>
<p>Not giving Spider-Man even a second to recover, the Black Cat struck again, aiming a kick at his knee. He buckled at the hit, but managed to stumble backward, hoping to give himself some room. Felicia robbed him off such hope.</p>
<p>She brought both her fists up and began throwing punches in rapid succession with a champion boxer’s precision, landing blows on her enemy’s underbelly, face, and ribs.</p>
<p>Spider-Man tried to fend off the onslaught but whenever he believed he understood her attack pattern, the Black Cat would suddenly open up her hands and deliver a swift scratch that would break his guard and draw blood. Any attempt to counter, or strike at Felicia were folly, as she would drive away his fists with her arms and take advantage of the opening.</p>
<p>Never letting up, she chased him around the living room, raining blow after blow upon the man that she had believed to be a hero. Her anger fuelled her attacks and as she sliced open Spider-Man’s right arm with a devastating scratch, Felicia saw her chance for the knockout blow.</p>
<p>She threw a punch to the left side of Spider-Man’s masked head which he managed to intercept and ward off with his arm, but when the Black Cat switched sides, he froze as the pain in his right arm hindered his movements. Felicia’s hit landed hard and he staggered backwards, crashing against the statue of Poseidon.</p>
<p>Falling to the ground, he tried to pick himself up, but his movements were slow and his breathing laboured. Grabbing hold of the priceless antique, the Black Cat strained every muscle in her body and pushed the marble Poseidon off its pedestal and onto the wall crawler. Raising a bloodied arm to shield himself, Spider-Man was caught beneath the statue and crushed.</p>
<p>A cloud of dust rose up and several polished floorboards cracked and splintered from the statue’s meeting with the floor.</p>
<p>Shaking with adrenaline, Felicia Hardy took several steps back and waited. As the dust cloud slowly fell, she could see that Spider-Man was pinned beneath the statues bulk and wasn’t moving. She’d won.</p>
<p>A loud banging on the White’s front door reminded the Black Cat that there was a world beyond this apartment and that she had, due to no fault of her own, overstayed her welcome.</p>
<p>“Hello? Is someone in there?” A voice called out, followed by more loud knocks against the door. “Are you alright? Hello?”</p>
<p>It was time to go.</p>
<p>Moving towards the couch, the Black Cat retrieved the Cat’s eye painting. Tucking it under one arm she walked towards the balcony door and opened it. A soft groan made her stop.</p>
<p>She turned and looked at Spider-Man.</p>
<p>The cloud of dust was slowly adding hues of grey to his striking red and blue suit and the wounds that she had inflicted on him had left his blood all over the living room. The forensic teams were going to have a field day with that, even if Spider-Man did manage to escape.</p>
<p>She watched him for a second waiting to see if he moved. He didn’t. But Spider-Man had proven in the past that he was a difficult man to keep down. The banging on the front door continued.</p>
<p>Wanting revenge for every night that he had lied to her, the Black Cat made a risky decision and decided to loiter for a few seconds longer in the White’s apartment. Closing her eyes, Felicia Hardy concentrated, tapping into her bad luck power. She knew where every alarm and security sensor was hidden. A slight ache began to form within her head but she continued on, mentally picturing each and every device that the Whites had employed to defend their possessions.</p>
<p>Then opening her green eyes, she sent forth a pulse of bad luck energy.</p>
<p>Every alarm within the apartment began to blare, beep, and howl. If that didn’t get the neighbours calling for the police then nothing would.</p>
<p>Stepping out onto the balcony, the Black Cat flexed her gloved hand again, preparing her grappling hook. She wanted to say some parting farewell to Spider-Man, to mark the moment with a line that summed up everything that had changed between them in such a short amount of time.</p>
<p>“Bastard.” Was the best she could come up with.</p>
<p>Then hopping onto the safety rail of the White’s balcony, the Black Cat fired her grappling hook and swung off into the night.</p>
<p>
  <strong>* * *</strong>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Rolling up the Cat’s eye painting, Felicia slipped it into a storage tube and dumped its bronze frame in an alleyway. Then with her prize slung neatly over her shoulder, the Black Cat began to wander aimlessly over the rooftops.</p>
<p>She had no desire to return home, but could think of nothing else to do. The irony of the situation was not lost on her, Spider-Man, her biggest foil was defeated and possibly rotting behind bars, the city was her playground now, where the only rules were her own. She could take anything she wanted and no one could stop her. But when her fury from earlier had passed, Felicia had found herself feeling hollow and empty and no amount of easily acquired gold or diamonds was going to fix that.</p>
<p>She had really believed in Spider-Man.</p>
<p>How could she have been so blind?</p>
<p>In the past, her father had told her several stories of times when his partners and cohorts had tried to double cross him, and each time the master thief had picked up on their schemes before his treacherous friends were ready and had skilfully turned the situation around on them. Following his teaching almost religiously, Felicia had believed that she too possessed the guile to spot any snakes in the grass before they had a chance to surprise her.</p>
<p>Instead she had gone and developed a small crush on one.</p>
<p>Landing on a rooftop, the Black Cat spotted a vent duct and made her way towards it. In the end Spider-Man was a liar, a con, a selfish jerk who used other people to get what he wanted. In the end he was just like everybody else. And that disappointed her.</p>
<p>Kicking the duct, she dented the metalwork but found no satisfaction in the act of petty vandalism. Removing the storage tube from around her shoulder, the Black Cat propped it against the vent and began to pace around the rooftop.</p>
<p>She tried to distract herself by planning a new exciting heist. Felicia had a list of items and antiques that she wanted to steal, but without the promise of a challenge, without a hero to mess with, the priceless treasures had suddenly lost their appeal. It was like Spider-Man had said, no sport.</p>
<p>The Black Cat returned to the duct and gave it another hard kick, hating herself for falling into his web of lies.</p>
<p>Walking towards the edge of the building, she stopped, crossed her arms, and looked out over the city. Felicia stared at the countless twinkling lights, without really seeing them. The night now seemed so empty with all of its adventure and possibilities gone. She didn’t know how long she stood there, watching the city that never sleeps, but eventually, as the world began to blur into indistinguishable mess which required several seconds of hard blinking to make right, Felicia decided that it was time for her to head home.</p>
<p>Once she got there she would hide the Cat’s eye and then go straight to bed. By the time she got up it would most likely be all over the news, Spider-Man incarcerated, the masked vigilante caught at last. Felicia hoped that by the time morning came, she would have gotten over this slump and find some satisfaction in seeing the wall crawler’s face, his real face, plastered across every webpage, television screen, and copy of the Bugle.</p>
<p>The Black Cat heard the sound of someone landing behind her.</p>
<p>Giving no indication that she had caught them out, Felicia Hardy continued to stare at the city scape, while carefully listening to the sound of booted feet softly approach her. She waited until they were within striking distance, and then turning around sharply, the Black Cat attacked.</p>
<p>Spider-Man leaned backwards and narrowly avoided having his face split open by her claws. Shock didn’t come close to describing Felicia’s emotional response to seeing the wall crawler again. With a snarl she threw herself at him, intending to cut him to ribbons. Instead she found herself swiping at empty air as he ducked and weaved through her attacks with incredible speed.</p>
<p>She caught sight of something in his hands as he dodged, a weapon?</p>
<p>The Black Cat curled her hands into fists and threw a punch right at his head. Spider-Man caught the blow in one hand and then held up his other arm to reveal what he was carrying. A pizza box.</p>
<p>“Hi.” He said, confusion staining his voice. “I’m guessing that now is a bad time?”</p>
<p>Pulling her fist free from his grip, Felicia braced herself for retaliation but Spider-Man simply hopped back, watching her carefully, but made no move to continue their battle. “Are you okay?” He asked. “Because that seemed a little overkill.”</p>
<p>“How the hell are you here?” She growled. He began to circle her slowly, still holding onto his pizza box. The Black Cat copied his movements and they began to dance around each other.</p>
<p>“Oh cab drivers will drop you off just about anywhere for a decent tip these days.” She glared at him; he was back to the jokes and the Mr. innocent routine, messing with her head. “But seriously, are you alright? You seem angry.”</p>
<p>She scoffed at that. But then the Black Cat took him in and noticed something. His costume was a mess, but it wasn’t how she had left him. Scratched up, with dust and blood staining the fabric, Spider-Man had looked pretty rough back at the Whites.</p>
<p>Now he looked charred.</p>
<p>What she had first mistaken to be shadows was actually soot clinging to most of his upper body. His chest, which she had sliced into as her opening move, was untouched, aside from the thin layer of grime clinging to it. She then looked at the pizza box in his hands. People seeking revenge didn’t come brandishing pizza boxes.</p>
<p>“What the hell happened to you?”</p>
<p>Spider-Man looked down at himself, then back up. “Oh right. Fire.” The look on Felicia’s face told him that it would be wise to elaborate further. “A small fire broke out at this rundown apartment building, the alarms didn’t work, go figure, and things were getting out of control pretty fast. Luckily your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man happened to be nearby and I took care of everything. Well mostly everything. Nobody got hurt though so that’s good.”</p>
<p>Felicia Hardy didn’t know what to believe. It was him, it was definitely Spider-Man standing in front of her right now, but she had also thought that back at the Whites. They were so alike in speech and manner. Could this all be some trick to get her to lower her defences?</p>
<p>“And that’s where you’ve been all night?” She asked carefully.</p>
<p>“Well not all night, but yeah.” Spider-Man nodded. “So can we talk about the whole trying to claw my eyes out?”</p>
<p>The arrogance that Spider-Man had at the Whites was gone; here he was trying to play peace keeper, no threats, no boasts, just careful tact. It was maddening. Was it one man pretending to be two? Had she been duped by some knockoff? Or were there simply two Spider-Men running around at the same time?</p>
<p>The Black Cat was going to find out. “Come here.” She demanded.</p>
<p>For a moment Spider-Man looked unsure but then, with slow deliberate movements he walked over to the vent duct and rested his pizza box on it without so much as a glance at her storage tube and then made his way over to the Black Cat.</p>
<p>“If you try to hit me again I will be very upset.” He warned.</p>
<p>She opened up her hand and held it out, Spider-Man stared at it for a moment, obviously confused and then slowly made to cover her right hand with his. Seconds before their gloved hands touched, Felicia snatched at his wrist and began to run her fingers down his arm.</p>
<p>“Okay, I am so lost right now.” He commented.</p>
<p>“Shut up.” Felicia replied. She waited for him to flinch as she pressed down on the exact same spot where she had scratched him earlier. He didn’t even twitch .Not yet satisfied; the Black Cat grabbed at the fabric of his glove and began to pull it off. Spider-Man made to stop her. “I feel like an explanation is long overdue.”</p>
<p>“I kicked your ass once tonight.” The Black Cat said with a scowl. “I can do it again.”</p>
<p>“Well that just clears everything up.” Spider-Man muttered but allowed her to peel his glove off. The flesh beneath it was untouched. Turning his arm over, examining it from all sides, Felicia saw no evidence that he had been scratched or partaken in any kind of fight this night.</p>
<p>Throwing his glove back at him, Felicia walked away and ran her hands through her hair.</p>
<p>So this Spider-Man wasn’t the Spider-Man who she had fought at the Whites. Good, she was getting somewhere now.</p>
<p>“Still confused by the way.” He called out after her.</p>
<p>Tucking his glove under one arm, Spider-Man raised the other and fired a thin web line towards his pizza box. Snagging it, he pulled it from the vent duct into his waiting arms. “Cat?” He waved the box at her. “Want some?”</p>
<p>She shook her head and Spider-Man shrugged.</p>
<p>Opening the box, he picked out a slice which had several pepperonis on top of it and brought it towards his mouth. Only to then realise that his mask was still in place. Closing the box, he began to shuffle around his glove, the pizza slice, and its cardboard container until at last he got a hand free and was able to roll up his mask and expose his mouth.</p>
<p>“That’s better.” He said to himself before taking a bite.</p>
<p>Watching all of this without a word, Felicia Hardy came to a conclusion. This, for better or for worse, was her Spider-Man. This was the hero who had chased her down and foiled her perfectly executed heists; this was the dork who pleaded with her to change careers. This was the loveable idiot that got cats out of trees for smiling children, or leaped into burning buildings without a second’s hesitation.</p>
<p>The other Spider-Man, the one she had left in the Whites apartment. She didn’t know what that was. Evil clone, robot duplicate, or just some jerk who could do a damn good impression, it didn’t matter.</p>
<p>The only Spider-Man worth her time was the one standing before her. Licking his cheese covered fingers clean.</p>
<p>“Hey.” She called out to him. Pausing in his actions, Spider-Man watched her slowly walk towards him.</p>
<p>“Hey.” He replied. “You done doing, whatever it is you were doing?”</p>
<p>“I think I got it figured out yeah.” She smiled weakly. “Your evil twin did quite a number on me.”</p>
<p>“Evil twin?”</p>
<p>“Forget about it, it’s not important.” Black Cat brushed it off, not wanting to explain just how it was that she had come to meet the other Spider-Man. The hero could learn all about it tomorrow when the Bugle announced his double’s arrest. Felicia then cleared her throat. “I’m sorry for taking a swing at you.”</p>
<p>Spider-Man shrugged and let out an exaggerated sigh. “It happens. I try not to let it get me down.”</p>
<p>The Black Cat couldn’t help but smile at him. “Yeah I guess you must have gotten used to that by now.” Felicia playfully punched his shoulder, surprised at the wall of solid muscle she encountered. Definitely not the same guy she had fought in the White’s apartment. Had she wailed on him, her knuckles would’ve been bleeding by the end of it. “You’re a pretty punchable guy.”</p>
<p>“I thought this was an apology.” He whined.</p>
<p>“Yeah, it was.” The Black Cat flashed him a smug look. “I hope you enjoyed it.”</p>
<p>“Well if there is someone I have to be punched by…” Spider-Man trailed off as she started to laugh. It was an accident, it just slipped out but once it did there was little Felicia could do to mask it.</p>
<p>“I never took you for a masochist.”</p>
<p>Spider-Man beckoned at his charred outfit. “And this is a slow night for me. No supervillains, no end of the world schemes to foil, nothing.” He crossed his arms and pretended to pout. “I think I might just go home and sulk.”</p>
<p>“Well I think you’re pretty amazing.” He stopped pouting almost immediately, and Felicia believed that he must have blinked in surprise, given the blank look upon his face. Then she watched as his open mouthed stare slowly became a beaming grin. “Well, I don’t hear that too often from other guys who try to pulverise me.”</p>
<p>“Well you won’t be hearing it from me anymore.” She winked at him. “So treasure it.” She then walked towards the vent duct and her storage tube.</p>
<p>“You know…” He started in a familiar tune as he trailed after her. “If you didn’t go around taking things that didn’t belong to you…”</p>
<p>“Not tonight, please.” The Black Cat laughed as she skipped the final few steps.</p>
<p>“There would be benefits.” He sang out. Coming to a sudden stop, she twisted around to face him and almost got bowled over by Spider-Man. “Sorry.” He whispered and backed up a step or two.</p>
<p>Felicia looked at the pizza box clutched in his hands. “You’re going to need to do a lot better than that to get me on your side.”</p>
<p>Placing the pizza box down on the duct, Spider-Man grabbed at his glove and began to pull it on. “At least think about it.”</p>
<p>“I did for like two seconds.” She teased. Picking up the storage tube the Black Cat swung it over her shoulder and then smoothly stepped around Spider-Man so that he was no longer cutting off her escape route.</p>
<p>“What’s that?” He asked, pointing a finger at her prize.</p>
<p>The Black Cat could have lied to him, after everything that had happened tonight she wasn’t sure if she was in the right state of mind to be chased over the rooftops. Still she had to say it, if just to cement the difference between her Spider and the fake that she had left beaten and bloodied at the White’s apartment.</p>
<p>“I stole it.” Felicia said.</p>
<p>His head fell back and he let out a groan. “And here I was thinking we were making some progress on the whole don’t take-” She didn’t let him get any further.</p>
<p>Grabbing the back of his masked head, she pulled Spider-Man in for a kiss that silenced his lecture and caused his mask’s eyes to widen in surprise. It lasted only for a second or two, and as far as kisses went it was nothing to write home about, but as the Black Cat pulled away the look of complete incredulity expressed across the wall crawler’s exposed mouth and mask made it a moment that Felicia Hardy would never forget.</p>
<p>“No more lectures, okay?”</p>
<p>“I, Cat I, why-” He spluttered.</p>
<p>“Oh come here.” The Black Cat said with a roll of her eyes.</p>
<p>Their second kiss lasted a lot longer than the first. Their mouths met and just like before Spider-Man seemed to freeze up in shock. Who knew that the big brave hero was so afraid of a little kiss? But as Felicia made to pull away and call it a night, his arm snaked around her waist and he pulled her tight against him. Grinning at his sudden boldness she was surprised and delighted further when Spider-Man began to kiss her back.</p>
<p>He may have been slow to the start but she wouldn’t hold it against him as once he got going there was no stopping him. Tilting his head, he pressed his lips against hers. Felicia closed her eyes and let herself enjoy the moment, one hand stroked the back of his head, the other held onto his shoulder as he leaned into her, deepening the kiss.</p>
<p>Bold, she liked it.</p>
<p>Giving him encouraging nips and playful bites across his lower lip, the Black Cat momentarily considered relinquishing her prize and seeing where all this led. But her pride as a thief wouldn’t allow it, she had put a lot of work into stealing the Cat’s eye and it was coming home with her. Spider-Man would just have to accept that, and they could always pick this up some other time.</p>
<p>His tongue brushed against her lips, almost earning a moan from her.</p>
<p>They were definitely going to pick this up some other time.</p>
<p>Placing both hands on his chest, she waited until he came up for air and then gave the wall crawler a gentle shove. He stumbled backwards, stunned, and perhaps a little wounded. Felicia offered him a wink and a reassuring smile.</p>
<p>“Catch you later.” She said and then ran for the edge of the building. Leaping out into the night sky, she fired off her grappling hook and began to swing away, as butterflies burst into life within her stomach. Flipping in mid-air she let out a loud cheer and began to laugh as she headed for home, not caring if Spider-Man was in pursuit or not.</p>
<p>
  <strong>* * *</strong>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Standing on the rooftop in a half stunned state Peter Parker slowly reached for his lips and clumsily brushed his gloved hand against them. That had happened, right?</p>
<p>He could still feel the pressure of her own lips against his, the warmth of her body, her smell and…</p>
<p>The world came racing back to him as he realised that he had been duped, hoodwinked, and outright bamboozled by the Black Cat once again.</p>
<p>With a groan of frustration, he raced across the rooftop after her, only to then stop, and turn right around and pick up his forgotten pizza box, couldn’t leave that behind, he doubted there would be anything else waiting for him in the fridge when he got home.</p>
<p>Firing off a web line he began to hunt down the Black Cat, aware that her head start meant that he probably had already lost her. But he had never given up on chasing her before, so why start now?</p>
<p>
  <strong>* * *</strong>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Dmitri Smerdyakov awoke to the sensation of his mask being peeled off his face. He groggily raised an arm to try and prevent it, but a strong hand grasped his wrist and forced his arm painfully back to the ground. The mask was fully removed and for a moment he was blinded by the bright lights of the room, until a shadow full upon him and Dmitri found himself staring up at an all too familiar face.</p>
<p>“How’s it going Spidey?” Captain Yuri Watanabe smiled.</p>
<p>The Chameleon tried to lunge at her. To wrap his hands around her throat and squeeze the life from her body. Instead he could barely sit up before a solid object stopped him cold and forced him to fall back against the floorboards. It was the statue of Poseidon, the one the Black Cat had dropped upon him.</p>
<p>“It’s going to take a few minutes for us to get the necessary people in here to get that off you.” Yuri said, affectionately patting the statue’s head. “But in the meantime, why don’t you tell me all about how this latest brilliant scheme was supposed to turn out.” She dangled the Spider-Man mask in his face, mocking him.</p>
<p>The Chameleon hated her. He hated Spider-Man, and he especially hated the Black Cat who had foiled his perfect plan on its first critical step. He growled in anger and clenched his fists, only to then immediately regret it as his right arm seared in pain.</p>
<p>“So, want to tell me who did this to you?” Yuri asked, nodding at his bloodied right arm.</p>
<p>Dimitri closed his eyes and repressed a snarl born from this latest humiliation. “I want my lawyer.” He demanded.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks for reading.</p>
<p>This was the first time I have written a proper kiss so I would be so grateful for any feedback on that or anything in the fic in general.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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